The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ‘Councils

  • Constitution review: Reps panel okays financial independence for councils

    Constitution review: Reps panel okays financial independence for councils

    •States get more powers 

    The House of Representatives Special Ad-hoc Committee on constitution review has approved the cancellation of the state and local government joint accounts.

    Each local government council, according to the proposed amendment, is empowered to maintain its own account into which shall be paid its allocation from the Federation Account and the state government.

    Members of the committee yesterday endorsed the letters of the Bill for an Act to alter the provision of the 1999 Constitution to strengthen local government administration.

    According to the lawmakers, development at the rural areas across the local government areas requires financial independence.

    The over 50 members committee at a meeting chaired by Deputy Speaker Yussuff Lasun yesterday said the new amendment makes it mandatory that disbursement from the account can only be made base on  a Bye-Law of the Local Government Council.

    A statement from the office of the Deputy Speaker said: “This is aimed at granting financial autonomy to the local government councils and strengthening separation of power at that level.”

    The statement added that the committee also heeded the call for true federalism and restructuring of the country by granting the devolution of powers to state governments.

    It said the committee adopted an amendment that “any person who has been sworn-in as President to complete the term of a person elected as President shall not be eligible to contest for election into such office for more than one single term”.

    Also endorsed by the committee was “the bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the 1999 Constitution to provide for independent candidacy to contest elections at all levels in the country”.

    The lawmakers okayed proposal for financial autonomy for Houses of Assembly and judiciary directly from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the state and for related matters.

  • Area councils share N2.12bn

    The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has disbursed the sum of N2.12billion to the six Area Councils in the FCT and other stakeholders as its share of statutory allocation for the month of March.

    FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye disclosed this during the Joint Area Councils Allocation Committee (JAAC) meeting.

    According to a statement issued by the Press Secretary, Office of the FCT Permanent Secretary, Tony Odey, the breakdown of the allocation shows that out of the 2.12bn disbursed; Primary School Teachers got #998,912,759.14;while the 15% Pension Funds received #95,040,159.75, 1% Training Fund got # 18,886,323.78 and 10% Employer Pension Contribution(15th installment of 23 months), gulped #73,917,439.85.

    Similarly, Abaji Area Council got #123,966,348.63; AMAC received #158,055,434.72 and Bwari Area Council got #121, 395, 216.57.Also, Gwagwalada went home with #149,941,776.30; Kuje received #125,324,331.04 and Kwali got #127,192,588.45.

    Included in the disbursement for the month of March is 10% share of the FCT Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) accruable to the Area Councils for February.

    Ajakaiye charged the council henchmen to ensure workers’ salaries are given top priorities.

     

  • APC hails dissolution of councils

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has hailed the nullification of the last April 16 council election.

    Justice S.A Sidiq declared that the election cannot stand because it contravened the Electoral Act.

    A statement by the All Progressives Congress (APC), through its Director of Media and Publicity, Steve Otaloro, said: “As a law-abiding party, we reminded our members and supporters of the subsisting case on the matter at the Supreme Court by the aggrieved elected chairmen under the late Olusegun Agagu, who Olusegun Mimiko terminated their tenure in 2009.

    “The local government executives nullified by the court were selected by the PDP-led government.

    “We promised the people that we would right the wrong through all legal means and we have been vindicated.”

  • Akeredolu urges court to set aside ruling on councils

    Akeredolu urges court to set aside ruling on councils

    Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) has filed an application at the High Court sitting in Akure to set aside its January 18 judgment.

    The judgment barred the governor and the House of Assembly from dissolving the 18 councils.

    The March 24 application was filed by the governor’s counsel, Charles Titiloye.

    Akeredolu is seeking to set aside the High Court judgment on the grounds that the  judge acted outside the court’s constitutional jurisdiction.

    He contended that the court’s jurisdiction is to determine legal rights and obligations arising from issues and dispute before it.

    Titiloye noted that the council chairmen admitted in their claims that there was no dispute between them and former Governor Olusegun  Mimiko but were afraid of their fate when Akeredolu was sworn in on February 24.

    The counsel argued that it was abuse of court processes for the claimants to hinge their case on mere speculation of dissolution of council when there was no indication from the governor to that effect.

    He noted that the court lacks constitutional jurisdiction to grant the claims on mere speculation.

    According to him, several decisions of the Supreme Court have held that the same court has the power to set aside its decision where it is a nullity.

    Titiloye said that there was no dispute between the former governor and the council chairmen and that the suit was “packaged” by the outgoing  administration to create problems for the new administration.

    No date has been fixed for the hearing.

  • Ondo councils’ account: Chairmen to sue govt

    Ondo State council chairmen have kicked against the freezing of their councils’ accounts by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.

    They said it was flagrant disobedience to the state’s High Court which ruled against dissolution of the councils.

    The council chairmen said the action was not only “incomprehensible but disappointing”.

    They said they were headed to court to challenge the action.

    Their counsel, Olusole Oke, said the governor’s action was not only subjudice but contemptuous of an order of a State High Court, which on January 17, barred the government from dissolving the councils.

    “We are more disappointed because the governor is a senior lawyer, who should understand the dictates of the law and  obey court orders.”

    Oke said the council officials will head to court and de-freeze the accounts, “as it cannot stand in the face of the fact that obedience to the rule of law is guaranteed by the constitution.”

    He added that the order of the state High Court is still in force and has not been vacated by any court order.

    The lawyer  lamented that part of the order which forbade the payment of salaries to non-elected officials of the councils “cannot stand because the mandate of the chairmen who elected them has not ended as declared by the court”.

  • CNPP backs caretaker committees for Kwara councils

    CNPP backs caretaker committees for Kwara councils

    The Congress of Nigeria’s Political Parties (CNPP) in Kwara State has supported the state government’s decision to inaugurate caretaker committees in the 16 council areas.

    A statement by the Chairman Adebayo Lawal and Secretary Prince Olufemi Adeleke, also lauded the Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed-led administration for the prompt payment of workers’ salaries. It advised the government to continue to prioritise workers’ salaries.

    The congress maintained that interim committee was not new in Nigeria as it is being practised in many states.

    The statement reads: “This is not a new thing as it had been practised in many states which had not even conducted out local government elections in the last three to four years.”

    The congress called on the government to keep up the good record as one of the states holding local government elections on schedule. “When the wherewithal is available, the local government elections should be held as soon as practicable,” the statement added.

  • ITF: Councils ’ll reduce skills gap

    The implementation of Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) will reduce skills gap shortages, improve productivity and boost workers’ skills, the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) has said.

    Its Acting Director General/CEO, ITF, Mr. Dickson Onuoha, made this known at a media parley in Lagos.

    He explained that the sensitisation meetings for the implementation of SSCs have held in Abuja and Lagos and they yielded positive results.

    He said the SSCs would be driven by employer-led organisations that cover specific industries to support employers in developing and managing apprenticeship standards.

    The ITF boss added that the National Automotive Council has established a sector skills council for the automotive sector and that there are SSCs for Information Communication Technology (ICT), while other sectors are in the process of establishing theirs in the country.

    “SSCs are employer-led organisations that cover specific industries to support employers in developing and managing apprenticeships standards, reduce skills gaps and shortages, improve productivity and boost the skills of their sector workforces and improve learning supply.

    “Countries like the United Kingdom (UK), Singapore, and South Africa, among others, have used the SSCs to improve skills and occupational standards. Recall that to provide opportunity for evaluating and validating skills requirements at the national and state levels on a periodic basis, the Fund entered into collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) for the establishment of sector skills in Nigeria,” he said.

    In a related event, the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has said it is working to ensure that the diversification policy of the Federal Government achieves the twin benefit of food security and job creation.

    NDE’s Acting Director-General, Mr. Kunle Obanya, said the agency was seeking ways to tackle the menace of youth unemployment through training schemes.

    Obanya said after months of hard work and creative thinking, over 40,000 new jobs and small scale businesses would be injected into the economy by the end of the year.

    He explained that the anticipated jobs would turn beneficiaries into wealth creators.

  • ‘We must rid councils, satellite towns of waste’

    The FCT Minister Malam Muhammad Bello has directed that a comprehensive waste evacuation exercise be undertaken in all the council areas as well as satellite communities of the territory.

    The operation is scheduled to last seven days.

    The Acting Director of the Satellite Towns Development Department (STDD) Mrs. Victoria Imande disclosed this, saying that the STDD has concluded arrangements to commence the seven-day exercise.

    Mrs. Imande stated that the FCT Administration is poised to clean up all the nooks and cranny of the satellite towns.

    She solicited for the cooperation and understanding of all the residents of the Federal Capital Territory particularly those resident in the Satellite Towns, by keying into the exercise to make it a success.

    The Director urged the residents to take personal interest in the exercise by owning the initiative and making personal hygiene part of their daily personal lives.

  • ‘Councils should not pay primary school teachers’

    Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has called for the removal of salaries of primary school teachers from local government allocations to ease  councils’ funding challenges.

    Ahmed said there was need to review national laws inhibiting states from playing majorly in telecommunications, energy, aviation, exploitation of mineral resources.

    A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Abdulwahab Oba, said the governor spoke during a meeting with Muslim scholars during a  “State of the State” meeting; a platform for interface between the government and faith leaders, women and youth groups.

    According to the governor, primary education is too important to be left to the councils, which are becoming incapacitated financially.

    He advocated an expansion of states’ sources of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by removing telecommunications, energy, aviation, exploitation of mineral resources, from the exclusivity of the Federal Government.